10 exercises on the notion of commons

metamatic:taf presents the exhibition 10 exercises on the notion of commons opening on Thursday 9 March 2017 at 20.30 and running until the 2nd of April.

By rewriting the map of social actions in Athens during crisis, in a city that is being transformed through conflicts and tensions- and in the peculiar old Athenian neighborhood that houses metamatic:taf, a group of artists has been engaged in a series of exercises exploring the various strands of the notion of the Common.

URBAN ART LAB.ATHENS worked in reference to the space, trying to open up the word “common” by choosing some of the common root words. These 10 exercises constitute experimentations by each creator to bring out the significance of the presence or absence of common benefit.

The architectural meaning of the communal space, the dysfunction in family communication because of the internet, social media, the multicultural Athenian society, social networks, public opinion, communism, the lack of sociability traced in new generations, the common women-victims, the parliament, the social work have been some subjects the artists elaborated on.

Beyond Aristotle’s Common Man, that as political animal is determined to live in the city, as well as beyond the idea of communal ownership, the purpose of the exhibition is to turn the gaze upon our Common fate, the re-examination of the limits in collectiveness and common action departing from a phase that encapsulates the issue in its entirety:

“ the world population problem has a certain structure: it is a tragedy of the commons…”